Phantom quintuplet pregnancy shocks father

A Quebec man had who believed for months that his girlfriend was expecting quintuplets has learned the entire pregnancy was a lie.

Paul Servat has told how his girlfriend Barbara Bienvenue sustained the story of being pregnant for 34 weeks, after first surprising him with the news after they had been dating for two months, the Toronto Sun reports.

Mr Servat, 35, was told by medical staff on Wednesday, after taking Bienvenue to hospital to deliver, that the hospital had no records for her. A nurse eventually showed Mr Servat the results of blood tests, revealing that she was not and had never been pregnant.

Ms Bienvenue, 37, who exhibited many of the symptoms of pregnancy, including a swollen abdomen, morning sickness and lactating, is undergoing a psychological evaluation and believed to be suffering from pseudocyesis, or a ‘phantom pregnancy’.

A friend of Mr Servat alleges Ms Bienvenue was in a similar situation with another man in 2010.

Synptoms ... Barbara Bienvenue, whose belly distended and who was lactating, is believedSource:Supplied

“She let me choose the names,” Mr Servat said from the nursery in his home, which contains five cribs. “I lost everything, it was my whole life.”

“Even my parents, they were so looking forward to having grandchildren.”

As the phantom pregnancy progressed, Ms Bienvenue told Mr Serat they were expecting twins, then triplets, quadruplets and finally quintuplets.

A Facebook page was set up to document the pregnancy, displaying the gifts the couple received from neighbours and local businesses.

A mother of triplets, Genevieve Laflamme, befriended Ms Bienvenue and offered her advice, but later became suspicious something was amiss.

“I gave her tips on how to handle [the experience], where to get financial support, where to get sponsors for diapers,” Ms Laflamme told CTV Montreal.

Ms Laflamme says she began to suspect something wasn’t right, including the revelation by Ms Bienvenue just a week before her purported due date that an ultrasound showed she was actually carrying five babies.

Donations ... Paul Servat plans to return or donate all of the gifts and merchandise theSource:Supplied

Mr Servat said he plans to give back all the presents they had received or donate them.

“I’ll return all these things to people who sent them or give them (away),” Mr Servat said.